Former chief strategist Steve Bannon is quoted in the book as saying a meeting Trump's team, which included Donald Trump, Jr. and son-in-law Jared Kushner took with Russians was "treasonous." Trump responded with a blistering statement saying Bannon has nothing to do with him or his presidency.

"When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind," Trump said. "Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was. It is the only thing he does well."

Wolff was given behind the scenes access to White House, spending his time in the West Wing.

"The nature of the comedy, it was soon clear, was that here was a group of ambitious men and women who had reached the pinnacle of power, a high-ranking White House appointment — with the punchline that Donald Trump was president," Wolff said in a first-person account in
The Hollywood Reporter
.

Wolff said the scene in The White House was surreal.

"Trump was, for the people closest to him, the ultimate enigma," Wolff said. "He had been elected president, that through-the-eye-of-the-needle feat, but obviously, he was yet … Trump. Indeed, he seemed as confused as anyone to find himself in the White House, even attempting to barricade himself into his bedroom with his own lock over the protests of the Secret Service."